At the sound of the gun, five helmeted men balanced on long skateboards and clad neck to ankles in protective leather suits began furiously slapping the pavement with their feet, propelling themselves downhill and disappearing around a bend.

By the time the heat reached the bottom of the steep stretch of Lookout Mountain Road outside Golden, the racers had braved seven tight turns and reached speeds upward of 40 mph.

It's not hard to see how the words "Blood Spill" got tacked onto the end of The Buffalo Bill Downhill, a 3-year-old longboard race and the only sanctioned event of its kind in Colorado.

The two-day race drew about 140 competitors but ended prematurely Sunday without a winner after a helicopter film crew crashed near the race route without injury.

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Organizer Justin DuBois said that Colorado's foothills and switchbacks are perfect for testing racers' skills, though many communities ban the activity on their roads.

"People skate this road, but it's not really legal most of the time," DuBois said. "I knew some pro riders, and we have such good hills. This is just about having fun with your friends and doing something that's terrifying."

DuBois is mostly kidding about that last part, though the risks involved are evident in the road rash covering some shoulders and backs and the skid scars on the leathers that the racers wear.

The sport combines the balance and maneuvering of snowboarding with the drafting and passing strategies of a car race.

"It's just pure, fast racing," said Reimer, 22, of Vancouver. "We only have two minutes to bust out. It's extremely technical."

Reimer was set to battle three other elite racers in a final heat when the helicopter crashed Sunday afternoon.

The HeliOps helicopter was hovering 30 to 40 feet from the tower where announcer Bricin "Striker" Lyons — a celebrity among longboard racers — spent the day cracking jokes and calling races in a Vancouver patois.

Riders take a hairpin turn with ease during the Buffalo Bill longboard race in Golden. Racers on the 1.1-mile course reach speeds upward of 40 MPG. (John Leyba, The Denver Post)

"Everyone was like, 'Why is (the helicopter) landing right below the road?' " said spectator Marcus Bandy, who runs the online magazine Wheelbase. "Then he nose-dives right in, the tail breaks off and it's kicking up dirt."

Despite the speed and the wipeouts — human or otherwise — yoga instructor Carrie Sarazin of Golden said the sport is more like meditation than an adrenaline high.

"I don't think about anything else. I don't think about bills. I don't think about the next turn. It's here," she said, tapping her temple.

Lockheed says object part of 'sensor technology' testing that ended ThursdayWhat the heck is that thing? It's fair to assume that question was on the minds of many people who traveled along Colo. 128 south of Boulder this week if they happened to catch a glimpse of what appeared to be a large, silver projectile perched alongside the highway and pointed north toward town.

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